Business travel seized the spotlight in February at the 21st annual Asia-Pacific Meetings & Incentives Expo (AIME), held at Australia’s Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) and attended by more than 750 exhibitors and 500 buyers, representing over 30 countries.
AIME served as the flagship event for Australia’s inaugural Business Events Week, which featured a series of seminars and events.
Based off survey results from the 2012 event, “There was a new initiative this year with Business Events Week to showcase the value of business events to Melbourne, Australia and the world,” said Sally de Swart, event director for AIME.
Technology was also a fundamental theme of AIME 2013, with the launch of the Future Events Experience, a dedicated space on the show floor for attendees to experiment with the latest industry technologies.
Australia’s Minister for Tourism, the Martin Ferguson, announced that in December Melbourne will host Tourism Australia’s largest trade marketing event, Dreamtime 2013, which will draw some 125 international buyers.
According to Andrew McEvoy, Tourism Australia’s managing director, Dreamtime is part of a broader strategy to promote Australia as a business event destination internationally.
McEvoy added that Australia’s “Tourism 2020” initiative plans to grow the business events industry to more than $16 billion annually by 2020.
Also at AIME, MCEC Chief Executive Peter King announced a proposal for a 135,000-square-foot expansion of the convention center.
“We’re turning away 30 percent of potential new business,” King said at an AIME press conference.
The proposed expansion would open prior to Sydney’s upcoming overhaul of Darling Harbour, which will be home to the new International Convention Center Sydney and 900 new hotel rooms by the end of 2016.
